Designing for “Context” Is Tricky Business

“Designing for context” is a popular phrase these days, and it makes me a little antsy. Designers often conflate device context with user context—or worse, with user intent. “This is mobile, so they’ll never want to do that.” ”This is mobile, so it’s aimed only at users on the go.” Friends, this is hooey.

I shared a few thoughts about this on Twitter last night, and Scott Klein helpfully gathered them into a single view at Storify. For what it’s worth, I thought I’d post ‘em here, too: